A scientific worldview of accounting ethics and governance education

A 2012 research paper provides a critique of the approach in which the issue of accounting ethics and governance has been tackled through education. “In light of the existence of the International Education Standard (IES) 4 specifically on ethics as the relevant framework developed by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the discussion in this paper centres on the requirement of IES 4 and the manner it is suggested for implementation. Based on the ontological and epistemological reality of the world as reflected in science which also parallels religion and Eastern belief system, we are sceptical of the degree of representation of reality of the model of ethics and governance that is currently upheld by accounting curriculum designers. A framework on ethics education that is more holistic is proposed [see Figure 1 below].”

According to the paper, the issue is whether accounting education today is founded on the premise of the desired model of education – one that emphasizes character building apart from cognitive and technical competence. The authors conclude that IFAC does uphold a moral/ethics-centric philosophical basis of education. In fact, IES 4 states “The program of professional accounting education should provide potential professional accountants with a framework of professional values, ethics and attitudes for exercising professional judgment and for acting in an ethical manner that is in the best interest of society and the profession.” Therefore, it can be implied that IFAC does consider the role of accounting education to be the platform to shape values, ethics and attitudes of professional accountants.

Read the 20-page research paper “A scientific worldview of accounting ethics and governance education: the right footing of International Education Standard 4, but...” by Arfah Salleh (Universiti Putra Malaysia) and Aziuddin Ahmad (Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor) published in the January 2012 Asian Academy of Management Journal (Vol. 17, No. 1, pages 131–150).